Club secretary Fiona Rule said the two-hour session at Brauerander Park for children aged five to 15 gave potential club members the chance to try everything from sprints to long jump and high jump.

“It is for kids to come along and see the set-up and try events and for parents to meet little athletics families,” she said. “Last year we had 200 members and that was quite huge and we expect, because of the Olympics, we’ll get quite a few more this season.”

Rule said the club’s season started on Friday and would run until March. “The competition we run on Friday nights, particularly for the younger ones, is not fierce competition,” she said.

“It’s more about them testing themselves against their own performances and bettering their own performances.”

Rule said the South West Games would run an athletics day at Brauerander Park on November 11 and the club would host the Little Athletics regional track and field championships for the Western Country region in February 2013.

She said clubs from as far as Swan Hill, Horsham and Ballarat would attend the two-day event.